samedi 16 octobre 2010

A Trip on The London Eye

I'm  81 and have been wanting to go on the London Eye for a while.

I'm scared of heights when they're open, like a cliff top, but didn't think I'd be worried by the wheel. I went with some friends and it was great.

Before we went on it we were shown into a sort of cinema with a huge screen and given 3D glasses, (something I hadn't seen for years.)
We saw the kind of sights we'd see on the Eye - odd things, like seagulls flying right into our faces then veering away at the last moment and then Chinese New Year celebrations with big multi-coloured dragons.
It was pretty good.
We got into the capsule, or pod, and I didn't feel it moving round at all. It turned very slowly so you got a good view at each step of the ascent and descent.
It wasn't at all scary. It wasn't cold either even though it was mid-October.
The pod had seating in the middle and there were 15 in ours but it wasn't crowded.
Once you're high up people on the ground look really tiny. So do boats on the Thames. The whole trip took about an hour.
The views of London are really good - wide, clear and panoramic. I took a pair of binoculars and got really good views of all the landmarks - the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, the Post Office tower, the 'gherkin' building, St Paul's cathedral...
In my fairly long life I've seen all the London landmarks before. But not from that vantage point!
I'm glad I finally got round to going on the Eye. It was spectacular.
Being in my 80s, the discounted price was 14 pounds. Not bad considering I'd need to have taken a flight from one of the London airports to get anything like similar views.